Filament – Beta Demo

Filament is an inventive and wonderfully elegant Sci-Fi puzzle adventure where you explore an abandoned spaceship and figure out the optimal route through areas so that you can wrap a filament cord around all the pylons to activate them.

Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer when it was a game jam prototype, Filament is a chilled-out Sci-Fi puzzle adventure set aboard an abandonned spacecraft. You’ve been sent to investigate after a mysterious complication has left the entire ship locked down and the entire crew missing – all aside from Juniper, the ship’s pilot who talks to you via comms as you explore.

As the entire ship is on lock down you need to hack terminals to allow access to new areas. When hacking you take control of a tiny robot which has an extendable filament cord attached to it. You need to move through the level in such a way that the filament cord touches (and activates) every pylon in the room, while still allowing you to access the exit door. Things start off fairly easy, but the difficulty soon ramps up as new elements such as differently colored pylons and moveable barriers are introduced.

It’s very easy to pick up and play, but the puzzles can be deceptively challenging. The gameplay and puzzle style in Filament are very different, but there’s a The Witness-esque feel to the way the puzzles are implemented. It has a show, don’t tell design philosophy as you learn the intricacies of the way the various aspects of the puzzles work.

Filament really is shaping up to be a fantastic game. The narrative is intriguing, it’s got a wonderfully chilled-out atmosphere and the art style is superb. It’s the clever filament cord based puzzles that really stand out though – it’s full of intuitive, innovative and intelligently designed puzzles that make the simple act of wrapping cord around pylons a remarkably complex and pleasing experience. Highly recommended.